I'm trying to make sure I've exhausted all the ways to get an engineering job, as I'll need money soon. I've had 10 interviews that were in the final round, and 14 phone interviews. I'm still waiting on 2 MEP companies in Chicago, but they seemed underwhelmed by my lack of experience.

My Background

I graduated in May, 2018 from UIC with a 3.31 GPA in BSEE. My only work experience is being a building service worker aide there. I tried to get an internship but I wasn't able to. I was vice president of Audio Engineering Society there, but we didn't really do electrical engineering projects. Interviewers have been most interested in my senior project with Caterpillar. I've spoken to a recruiter from CAT and there are no suitable jobs. I passed the FE exam in May. Since graduation I learned AutoCAD Electrical, AutoCAD MEP, and Revit through Lynda. I know I don't want a career in pure software engineering. I got an engineering graduate from UIUC that worked for career services to correct my resume. I'd really like to stay in Chicago area due to family problems, but I'd relocate farther.

My Job Search Strategies

I've talked to my/my family's/ my friend's contacts that work in engineering, and there won't be jobs. I got an alumnus to pass my resume to his manager for an entry level test engineer job, and I didn't even get a phone interview. I'll send LinkedIn messages to UIC alumni that work for engineering companies, and will have mutual connections introduce me.
I've been to 3 engineering events at McCormick Place since January (I volunteered at AWEA.) The contacts I've met there won't respond when I reach out to them, or they'll also be recent grads. A couple of companies seemed pretty interested in me at the career fair last week, so I'll be calling them soon. I've of course applied to 100 jobs through job portals and UIC careers site. I tailor each cover letter. I've gotten about 5 interested responses from companies not in Indiana or Illinois, but they won't pay for expenses to do in person interviews. I got to one final video interview for an MEP company in St. Paul. I got an interview by sending a cover letter and resume to a company that didn't have any jobs posted (it's one of the pending interviews right now.) I'll talk to recruiting agencies but I'm uncomfortable doing a 6 month contract job somewhere that I'll need to get a car and apartment. My last interview rejection was for a 6 month automation engineer contract job 4 miles from my house.

My Interviews

I've had multiple sessions with people from Career Services/ Engineering Career Center at UIC working on interviews. I'll practice common questions out loud and look at questions on Glassdoor. I'll look up the interviewers, the company's Youtube channel, and every part of their site. I've been told "good question" and that I know more about the company than other applicants. I'll always ask for feedback after a rejection email, and I'll either not get a response or something generic about applying other positions.

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That's all I can think of for now. I don't want to go to grad school due to lack of interest in R&D, bad financial situation, and lack of confidence in what concentration I'd do. I really appreciate any input! Thanks for reading.